Restitution: The Lledumar Saga, Book 3

The Lledumar have been devastated by war, again. But this time, they believe they have come out the clear winners. And a handful of Lledumarians, including Dr Ryndeel Drinns, attempt to restore sanity and security to those who survived. But the challenge to restore the Lledumar to its former glory days may be more than the new leaders can handle, and more taxing and dangerous than they imagine.

Dr Ryndeel Drinns has been waiting for an old friend and love of her life to regain consciousness, and pines away the hours waiting for the happy moment to arrive. She is under pressure from the new leadership to work hard to bring Clynne Raxxman back from the unconscious hell he descended into, thanks to the poison used in the war on humans everywhere.

When an old enemy appears on the horizon, the new leaders begin a slow panic. Some say the only person who can save them is the only person who is blissfully unaware of the impending threat: Clynne Raxxman. But what will Raxxman do when he regains consciousness thinking, at first, that he has woken in heaven, but in reality has woken to a new kind of hell and a new war on the horizon.

Read an excerpt below:

‘We must give him time,’ argued Drinns. She discussed Raxxman’s condition with Benedict Dlaand, one of the few new members of the Lledumarian High Council; had been elevated to councillorship after the destruction caused by Alton Rhizikh. Dlaand had managed to survive. ‘His memories are not returning as swiftly as we thought. We must wait until they do, and let him manage it as I know only he can. Until then, we handle the situation as best we can, without him.’

Dlaand wasn’t as amicable as she’d hoped he’d be, in the present circumstances.

‘Ryndeel,’ Dlaand began, his voice a whiny alto, ‘we need to begin rebuilding the Lledumar. And the sooner the better. The safety and security of the Lledumar require it. With or without Raxxman’s help. I’d prefer we did it with his help. He has …’

‘He’ll come around.’ She sounded insistent and nodded. ‘I know he will. We just …’

‘I know how you feel about him,’ interrupted Dlaand. ‘We all have feelings for Raxxman. But we have a responsibility to the Lledumar. They need the High Council to direct them and make them secure. The new High Council, that is. It has fallen to us, and we must take control of the situation. He can …’

‘I understand, Dlaand.’ She relented. ‘I’m with you. I’ll look after him as best I can while we rebuild what’s left of the Lledumar, and build a new world. I’ll do whatever you want.’

She was annoyed that things had worked out as they had for Raxxman. His memory failure was going to be a problem. While most of the Lledumar (the ones that had survived) had recovered their memories of who they were, after transformation, Raxxman’s memories had taken a different path, one to puzzlement and confusion. A strange, bewildering path. She wondered whether the way EMF/TI had worked on the FM – Fraxmaania mengnitus – in his system, being human and not Lledumar, had anything to do with it. Probably, she thought. Had to be. Nothing else could account for it.

There would be time to explore what had happened to him. Right now, her immediate attention was the state of the Lledumar. After transformation, the Lledumar, what remained of them, had woken from transformation to find their world had changed preternaturally. Many were bewildered and lost, and some couldn’t handle the change. They had crumpled under the pressure of change, the realisation that their world was no longer the way it had been.

War had come and left them battered and bruised. Stupefied, and unable to function properly. It would take a grand effort to restore law and order. And more to restore their sanity. How that would pan out, she hadn’t a clue. But she hoped Raxxman would be beside her as she tried, in her humble and limited way, to help in that effort. She was a biomedical scientist, not a politician. Being a politician was going to stretch her; perhaps to a breaking point. She couldn’t let the latter happen. For Lled’s sake. For Raxxman’s sake.